It is well known to employ detachable load carrying pouches on backpacks and garments such as vests and trousers so that the user may select and attach pouches that are appropriate to his or her immediate needs. It is perhaps most common to attach the pouches by the use of clips, snap-fasteners, buckles, ties or loops, which are sewn or otherwise secured to the material of the garment. One of many examples is U.S. Pat. No. 4,106,121 to Belson, which discloses the use of metal snap-fasteners to secure pouches to a garment. Such methods of attachment are not very satisfactory because there are generally only a few pre-attached fasteners, restricting the size and location of pouch attachment. Also, if a heavy load is carried in a pouch, the strain on the few fasteners supporting that pouch will be great so that they may break, come apart or tear out. In any event, the resultant distortion of the garment is likely to be most uncomfortable.
It is known to spread the load of a pouch by the use of hook-and-loop materials such as Velcro™; for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,991,925 to Wu, 5,644,792 to Tishler et al, 5,465,425 to Chrispin, 5,014,359 to Hanson, 4,382,302 to Watson, 4,241,459 to Quayle and 4,106,121 to Belson. It is also known to spread the load of a detachable pouch by the use of zips, as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,809,802 to Puco and 4,369,526 to Clutts. The pouches may be attached individually (as in most of the above mentioned cases) or in groups affixed to panels, as in the case of Clults. These references demonstrate a wide variety of intended applications and uses, which represent most of the fields of use or application listed above.
The use of fastener systems that require part of a fastener to be permanently secured to or built into a garment or pack for the attachment of load-carrying pouches lacks flexibility because the location and positioning of the fasteners is predetermined or fixed. Also, it is generally essential that matching fastener portions be incorporated at appropriate locations in the pouches. This means that the pouches must be tailored to suit the nature and location of the fasteners on the carrier, irrespective of pouch size and shape, even where attempts are made to ensure that the ‘footprints’ of the pouches are modular in some respect. As a result, pouches intended for on one garment by one manufacturer often cannot be fitted to another garment or to the garment of another manufacturer. Thus, a load-carrying vest having detachable pouches intended for use by a fisherman will not be able to carry the specialised detachable pouches needed by a paramedic or a soldier. A vest having detachable pouches suitable for carrying the tools of a cabinetmaker is not likely to be useful for a framing carpenter. Exercise vests for persons of different size and gender may not be able to employ common weight pouches. The location of fasteners on one exercise vest may be suited to support a given pouch carrying a light or evenly distributed weight but be quite unsuited to the support of the same pouch carrying-a heavier or unevenly distributed weight.
However, in some cases—as in Crispin and Wu mentioned above—such large areas of the vest are covered with the loop half of a Velcro™ fastener that pouches of a variety of types and shapes can be mounted in place at a variety of angles and locations. Not only is it expensive to cover a garment with Velcro™ material but the breathing and thermal properties of the garment will be greatly affected. Moreover, when the garment is worn in the field, the exposed areas of the Velcro™-material become so clogged with vegetable matter and soil that the position of existing pouches cannot be easily changed and new pouches cannot be securely attached, so the flexibility of the garment is lost.
It is well known to employ netting or mesh materials for garments, or portions thereof, usually for lightness and ventilation; see for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,913,409 to Test and U.S. Pat. No. 3,885,248 to Salsby. Mesh materials are also employed for pockets, especially for fishermen and hunters. Test discloses the use of a vest having mesh panels and mesh and normal fabric pockets attached thereto. However, the manner of attachment is not disclosed and is problematical.